Hotel Chains Tailor Offerings to Campuses

Hotel Chains Tailor Offerings to Campuses

Article excerpt

Large chains are increasingly joining established independent
hotels by tailoring their decorations and amenities to the college
calendar.

College pennant over your bed? Recent graduate available to
answer questions? Rooms decorated in the school colors? Hotels near
college campuses are gearing up to attract graduation weekend
crowds, just as they compete throughout the year to attract visiting
high-school families, graduates attending reunions and parents
dropping off freshmen.

Large chains are increasingly joining established independent
hotels by tailoring their decorations and amenities to the college
calendar.

"The hospitality industry is focused on the customer experience
right now," said Michael Giebelhausen, assistant professor of
marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.
"Hotel managers are integrating local elements and upping their
games on unique offerings." This includes syncing those offerings
with the rhythms of the local college.

Universities are a stable source of business with a predictable
seasonality, Mr. Giebelhausen said. "They can help protect hotels
from the ups and downs of the economy."

Hotels are varying their efforts to pursue college-related
business. The Holiday Inn Elmira, near Elmira College in upstate New
York, gets into the spirit by offering purple drinking water, among
other things. And for the last two years, guests arriving for the
Western State Colorado University graduation and staying at the
nearby Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites have arrived to lobby
decorations, gift bags in their rooms and a letter from the
president of the university thanking families for their support.

A family's first visit to the college can be important to a
hotel. "If you can create a memorable experience for the family in
the beginning of their freshman year, then you can ideally earn a
loyal guest for the four years or six years the student is in
college," said Bryan Barbieri, director of public relations for the
Revere Hotel Boston Common, which is near Suffolk University,
Emerson College, New England School of Law and Tufts University. …